How do you usually start your story? Why?

[TotallyHuman]

Usually I establish the main character and plunge right into the story, but it's more of an unintentional thing and I just write whatever I want

 

[YueLqn]

The beginning of the story is very important. You can say that it’s the crucial factor on whether the readers are gonna continue reading your story.

So, there are a lot of way to start, but all great story have one thing in common; they hook the readers in and never let them go.

Some start with introducing characters. Some start with introducing the magical world. Some start right in the middle of the action.

But, what about your story? How do you usually start your story? Why?

Ah.. I barely write but I usually start with setting because I'm a sucker for world building, intense lore, etc.. and thus I am prone to info dumps ah
The stories that I have written started with death lmao because I like rebirth/reincarnation/transmigration tropes-
Depends if its an original, or fanfic. (because the world building is usually already set in stone for fanfic unless its an AU)

 

[CupcakeNinja]

The beginning of the story is very important. You can say that it’s the crucial factor on whether the readers are gonna continue reading your story.

So, there are a lot of way to start, but all great story have one thing in common; they hook the readers in and never let them go.

Some start with introducing characters. Some start with introducing the magical world. Some start right in the middle of the action.

But, what about your story? How do you usually start your story? Why?

let me check.
AlrIght it seems in three of the stories the MC is either fucking someone, spying on her brother fuck someone, or waking up after fucking someone. Another wakes up in someone else's body, then gets greeted by an angel who looks like he's in a biker gang. A fourth MC is smoking on a rooftop while thinking about the vicissitudes of life before making a pass at his teacher. And the last one is saying heartbreaking goodbye to her yandere siscon of a brother while secretly planning to run away from home so that he doesn't come back to eat her tofu,

...It seems the characters are introduced first, then? And has a little bit of "action" of some kind going on? I try not to make the start of a story boring at least. I usually shine with my characters and comedy, not really action or suspense.

 

[Deleted member 45782]

Idk. Depends what wanna do. Rarely write but would introduce/dump reader into the scene or dump reader into character's current thoughts of a situation. If "usual" means always start stories the same way. Would rather try not do that as much, want change it up a bit.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Slow-burn?

If you are referring to my writing speed, yes.

 

[Akivien]

Pprtray a fragile image that will soon break.

 

[BigHoodieBoy]

I started introducing the main character with both of mine, just one more than the other.
One showing what the mc thinks and how he works, at least a little, and the other showing what he appears to others as well as how he was before the start of the story

 

[Southdog]

Start immediately after the description. Introduce main character via dialogue that establishes their personality and dialect, then into exposition (paragraph at most). The less a story is set in modern times, the more exposition it needs. Story starts IMMEDIATELY after the description: you don't need to repeat how your character got hit by a truck. We've seen it before.

Interesting stories don't start in uninteresting places. In media res is effective but requires planning. I don't plan far ahead so when I draft stuff I like to flip a coin and either run a cold open, or play something dramatic/shocking go ghe reader.

I would never start a story on a bright and sunny day because those are only interesting to Brits, who have shitty weather.

what I would do is start a story either from a one-off perspective to give context to the actual main character, or by having someone undergo an immediate, shocking development. Witnessing a murder, financial catastrophe, supernatural phenomena. If I'm writing a mystery then my readers need to be asking the same questions as my characters. Action stories start with action, sime ody getting shot, revenge being declared. Your super special OC sitting in a character creation menu has been done first by somebody already on the trending novels page.

 

[BlackKnightX]

I start as the character is about to tell you their story. If that makes any sense. Or an event that is happening... I like to try out different ways. c:

I really love that! It’s like you’re listening to someone telling you a story, rather than just reading a book. It gives off those family gathering kind of vibe.

I think I basically did the beginning of my novel a shock therapy.

Since my story has too many different elements, fantasy, sci-fi, politics, war, military strategy, in the real world, with angels and demons involved.
I wanted to make it clear from the beginning that there would be a lot of different things together, if they supported it or liked it they would surely continue, if not then at least they would find out quickly that my story was not for them. But at least it would not take anyone by surprise if the characters spoke at some point about the foreign trade policy of the United States and in the next scene look for clues about a lost werewolf in the city.

The beginning of my novel is in the middle of the story, many important events happened before chapter 1. An angel visiting an aircraft carrier heading to war. In it the angel talks to the protagonist about things that happened in the past and explains a little why he is on that ship. It is explained that he is not there trying to support his faction to win the war, but because he is helping the angels to recover an object. In return they will heal his sister's illness. So his priority will not be to win the battle but to steal an object and get out there alive, he only has to act until the right time.

Apparently, it has worked quite well for me, because what they have complained about the most was my grammar. And not so much about the great lack of context that the beginning has. Much of my novel is about revealing what happened in the past little by little, so telling everything that happened just to have the context of the beginning would take a toll on me by releasing the same information later on where it has much more weight. An example would be that what the protagonist sought to recover is a stone that fulfills wishes. But that for some reason he refuses to use it, because there is a price to pay, readers do not know that price. Having told that price would have made him see later where he explains why another character should not use, and because he does know the price to pay it would be less shocking.

I also believe that when opening with a lack of information so that readers want to continue reading to find the answers to those questions.Of course, you better know the answers in advance, because each of those information holes that you leave, is a promise with the reader that at some point it will be answered in a credible way.

Yep, that’s a perfect way to create a page-turner, ‘question’. Your story seems interesting. I’ll check it out!

mc doing something stupid and getting in trouble

I hate that! I really hate that! *Ahem*…..hypocrisy is real~

my favorite way of beginning a story is just telling my readers everything i write is just nonsense, that way i can just go wild and do whatever i want.

i usually include them in the synopsis rather than the prologue tho.

Like in Random Drabbles? It’s kind of cool, actually. You know, kind of….

 

[gaylolis]

Like in Random Drabbles? It’s kind of cool, actually. You know, kind of….

more like my skills got nerfed by about 69% when i'm afraid to make any mistakes :/

and it's more that i'm too lazy to even try making it perfect as well, so i stick with a format where the screw ups might actually make it good :D

not sure if it only applies to that story, i think i tagged almost my entire stuff in Ao3 as nonsense as well.

 

[BlackKnightX]

Usually I establish the main character and plunge right into the story, but it's more of an unintentional thing and I just write whatever I want

I mean, you can’t help doing that. No matter how you start your story, slowly introducing the characters or start right in the middle of the actions, somethings need to happen eventually, or it will get stale, and you’ll become bored.

Ah.. I barely write but I usually start with setting because I'm a sucker for world building, intense lore, etc.. and thus I am prone to info dumps ah
The stories that I have written started with death lmao because I like rebirth/reincarnation/transmigration tropes-
Depends if its an original, or fanfic. (because the world building is usually already set in stone for fanfic unless its an AU)

Info-dump is fine if it’s interesting enough. Though, that’s of course very subjective.

I still remember the first time I read isekai story, I was entranced by everything that happened. It was such a magical world I’d gotten myself into, and I couldn’t seem to find my way out of it, nor did I want to.

Every single info-dumps back then didn’t feel like info-dump at all since it all so new and interesting to me.

After I finished that story, I went and devoured the others of the similar kind, and as you might have guessed already, the expositions became boring info-dumps since it all just repeated the same things over and over.

So with that said, I think info-dump is fine if it’s unique and interesting.

I usually shine with my characters and comedy, not really action or suspense.

I can certainly see that.

Pprtray a fragile image that will soon break.

You sadistic demon!

more like my skills got nerfed by about 69% when i'm afraid to make any mistakes :/

and it's more that i'm too lazy to even try making it perfect as well, so i stick with a format where the screw ups might actually make it good :D

not sure if it only applies to that story, i think i tagged almost my entire stuff in Ao3 as nonsense as well.

I completely understand you! I just wrote my own story about my past experience, only to myself of course, and it was great!

I got lost into the writing, and when I glanced at the word counts, it had advanced so much, much more than my fictional story! I was astonished and glad at the same time.

And oh, let me tell you what happened after that. I felt liberated! I felt freedom! So free in fact that I felt like I was flying up high in the sky and was about to broke through to the space until I bumped into a spaceship and died right there and then and got reincarnated right after!

It was wonderful!

 

[gaylolis]

I completely understand you! I just wrote my own story about my past experience, only to myself of course, and it was great!

I got lost into the writing, and when I glanced at the word counts, it had advanced so much, much more than my fictional story! I was astonished and glad at the same time.

And oh, let me tell you what happened after that. I felt liberated! I felt freedom! So free in fact that I felt like I was flying up high in the sky and was about to broke through to the space until I bumped into a spaceship and died right there and then and got reincarnated right after!

It was wonderful!

yeah i do love to write as if i'm telling my own experience as well. i feel i couldn't really write any other way :D

 

[RaidenInfinity]

Action with lots of foreshadowing buried within.

 

[BlackKnightX]

yeah i do love to write as if i'm telling my own experience as well. i feel i couldn't really write any other way :D

That’s the spirit of storyteller!

 

[SakeVision]

I hate that! I really hate that! *Ahem*…..hypocrisy is real~

But look: if we start with mc doing something stupid then we
1. Start the story in semi exciting way, with action...
2. Introduce the mc...
3. And have good way to characterize them when they are faced with failure or difficulty

 

[BlackKnightX]

But look: if we start with mc doing something stupid then we
1. Start the story in semi exciting way, with action...
2. Introduce the mc...
3. And have good way to characterize them when they are faced with failure or difficulty

Yep, that’s why I did it.

 

[Ai-chan]

Depends on Ai-chan's vision for that story. No two stories are the same. Generally:

For the slower-paced story, Ai-chan would have a sizable prologue chapter, of no more than 2000 words. This is to gather the interest of the readers, give them a hint at what kind of story it would be and what they can expect in the future. It is in this prologue that Ai-chan hints at whether it's a tragedy, comedy or horror.

For the faster paced story, Ai-chan would start 1st chapter straight into the action. The story is about a massacre? Well, time to kill everyone, let the survivor tell the story.

For the less linear type of storytelling, Ai-chan would start first chapter with the conclusion of the story, and from there work Ai-chan's way from the beginning all the way to the conclusion. Or just jump from here to there if it's a mystery type of story.

 

[ConcubusBunny]

I usually start after an intense action so they know of the magic bullshit but not quite what magical bullshit then I move onto character introductions of a few key players move them relatable but still fun and enjoyable and make them do crazy stuff for fun before the plot kicks off.
I know that most people like to info dub the world building or magic system or the threat or whatever to get people into the story, but like what's the point in that I prefer to spill the world building over the entire series cause my charters already know their world and and magic system and I don't like explaining such things in long details.
So I'll just give bits of how the world works and magic system through action and introduce a character through their interactions with the cast, so everyone understands organically instead of info dumping everything.
Because you can't start describing a random persons life history in an anime so that's how I write whatever information I can give in a single frame is how much the reader gets.

 

[BlackKnightX]

I usually start after an intense action so they know of the magic bullshit but not quite what magical bullshit then I move onto character introductions of a few key players move them relatable but still fun and enjoyable and make them do crazy stuff for fun before the plot kicks off.
I know that most people like to info dub the world building or magic system or the threat or whatever to get people into the story, but like what's the point in that I prefer to spill the world building over the entire series cause my charters already know their world and and magic system and I don't like explaining such things in long details.
So I'll just give bits of how the world works and magic system through action and introduce a character through their interactions with the cast, so everyone understands organically instead of info dumping everything.
Because you can't start describing a random persons life history in an anime so that's how I write whatever information I can give in a single frame is how much the reader gets.

Yep, I don’t like info-dump, either. I mean, it’s fine if it’s interesting enough, but it’ll become boring really fast.

The expositions can reveal themselves as the story goes along. That’s the best way to get readers into the world, I think.

 

[PhillisCreziles]

I usually start stories off with some modified cliche scenario that makes readers curious but at the same time second-guess what's going to happen. In that scenario, I introduce the primary characters that readers should get to know, which includes the main character and other characters I consider important further going into the story.

Like;
Let's say that I am writing a bad isekai story that starts off with a kid who gets punched so hard he gets sent to another dimension and meets a dog god.

On a mirror-plane dimension that stretched endlessly to the horizon, a small god radiating in infinite power stood before a little boy named jimmy.
However, this god was no mere god, it was a dog.

"Ok let's just get on with it. How the heavens did you die?" The nonchalant dog interrogated and drew out a quill as well as a notepad.
Shocks of confusion were struck through little chubby jimmy, "What the hell!? Dogs can speak!?" He scuttled away on his bottom from the accursed creature.
The dog's brows furrowed and then out came a booming voice, "HEY! WATCH YOUR MOUTH! I DON'T WANT TO GET FIRED BECAUSE OF YOUR LANGUAGE!"
Its brown fur paw then gestured a shrugging wave and it cleared its throat, "Anyhow, just answer the question."
"Um... I didn't die though."

An awkward silence grew harsh between the dog god and jimmy.

The infinite light that beamed from the dog instantly died into a minuscule and disappointing speck, "YOU WHAT!?"